


A Flower That Blooms in Adversity

by rentasofa



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben is Reysexual, Complete, Crossdressing, Disguise, Disney References, F/M, Family Legacies, Grandma Maz, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mistaken Identity, Mulan (1998) References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2019-12-30 15:19:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 23,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18317945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rentasofa/pseuds/rentasofa
Summary: To help save her friend and prove her self worth, Rey breaks the law and joins the army disguised as a man. But she's not the only one with something to prove. Her young and inexperienced captain wants to show the world that he is more than his family's legacy, just as much as she wants to prove she is more than her gender. Together, with the rest of their rag tag troupe, they must fight off the invading First Order before they take over the New Republic.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to another rentasofa Disney/Reylo crossover, this time with my favourite Disney classic of all time - Mulan. If you haven't done so already, go check out my last Disney crossover, Cindereyla (bet you can guess can guess what that's all about).  
> My aim for this fic was to keep the chapters short so that I can post twice a week, so look out for updates on Mondays and Thursdays (hopefully).

Ezra Bridger slowly made his towards the guard tower. It was a very calm night, a gentle breeze blew through the trees many meters below and the light from the moon bounced off the great stone wall as it snaked along the ravine and up towards the mountains.

It was nearly the end of his shift, soon someone would be along to relieve him from his post but until then Ezra continued towards the guard tower, trying to fight of the tiredness that was encroaching upon him. Three weeks of night patrols was enough to tire out even the most nocturnal soldier in the army of the New Republic but soon it would be over and Ezra would be back the barracks catching up on some well deserved sleep.

There came a sudden clanging noise from behind him which caused him to jump and spin around. A dark, rusty metal hook lay on the path behind him, it was seemingly attached to a length of rope that disappeared over the edge of the wall.

As Ezra edged closer towards the hook, the rope was suddenly pulled tight and the hook flew backwards and embedded itself into battlements causing him to flinch.

He stepped forwards and peered over the edge of the battlements, the moonlight shone upon a dark figure several meters below, it was clear that the figure was climbing the rope.

Another clang came, several meters away from the first hook, then another, then another. Within seconds the battlements had been covered in hooks, as Ezra continued to look over the battlements and more and more figures emerged into the moonlight it suddenly became clear. They were under attack.

Forgetting his tiredness, with renewed energy, Ezra sprinted towards the guard tower. He was only meters away when the dark figures he had seen climbing the ropes began to appear over the battlements.

One of the figures took a swing at him with a sword that he was only just able to dodge as he scurried up a ladder onto the top of the guard tower to the waiting beacon. He knew what he must do, light the beacons, alert everyone to the invasion.

Ezra walked passed the beacon and grabbed a lit torch off the wall, as he spun around, ready to plunge it into the oil soaked timber of the beacon, the light from the torch danced off a dark figure who has appeared on the other side of the beacon.

Without hesitation, Ezra plunged the torch into the beacon which sprang to life in a burst of fire and heat. The flames illuminated the figure who was stood on the other side of the beacon causing him to gasp.

The light revealed an emaciated looking individual, skin stretched taught over the bones in his face, a large wound ran from the top of his forehead to between his sunken blue eyes.

Ezra saw out the corner of his eye that other beacons along the wall had now burst into flame.

"Now all of The New Republic knows you're here" Ezra said, addressing the figure.

The figure took another step closer to the beacon, the fire dancing in his eyes. He ripped the banner of the New Republic down from its pole and plunged it into the flames.

"Perfect" he replied.


	2. Chapter 1

Luke Skywalker had ruled over the New Republic with his twin sister Leia for almost thirty years. 

In the time since their rebellion had defeated the previous corrupt and evil Emperor and his loyal enforcer Darth Vader, their father, the kingdom had enjoyed relative peace and security, protected from the Unknown Regions by a tall and heavily defended wall at the border thought by all to be impenetrable.

It came as a shock then as word reached the joint rulers in the capital that the warning beacons had been lit.

“Your Majesties, the First Order has crossed our northern border.” General Solo bowed before their joint throne. His long red cape swished behind him. The bottom of it was dusty from the road the same as his boots.

“Snoke is leading them.” he added.

Luke narrowed his eyes and turned to his sister. It was as he had feared. He had heard rumours of a growing unrest forming outside the walls of the kingdom, he’d hoped that it was just rumours but now that the threat has presented itself, the situation seemed far more serious than he had initially thought.

“We’ll set up defences around your palace immediately.” the General sent a protective and meaningful look towards Leia. They had formed a strong and intense connection during the rebellion and had quickly married after its victory, but soon realised their strong personalities and ideals clashed, so spent most of their time apart; her over seeing the New Republic with her brother, him leading and training the army. It was for the best, but it didn’t mean they didn’t love and care for one another.

“No, send your troops to protect our people.” said Leia. How would it look if the two great leaders who lead the rebellion thirty years earlier were sat cowering in their palace while the very people they had fought to liberate were slaughtered like animals by Snoke’s invading army.

“Ackbar,” Luke called forth their chief counsellor.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the older man with large watery eyes and long fine whiskers, hurried up to the side of the throne and bowed.

“Send conscription notices throughout all the provinces, call up reserves, as many new recruits as possible.”

“Forgive me Your Majesty, but I believe my troops can stop him.” the General said with pride. These weren’t the ragged band of brave soldiers who defeated the old Emperor’s forces, these were highly trained and well equipped warriors.

“I won’t take any chances General. A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man can be the difference between victory and defeat.”

The three old friends with a sense of trepidation. It had been a long time since the had seen fighting on the scale of what was to come and they were no longer the bright eyed idealists they once were. They were also not the scrappy under dogs anymore. The New Republic army was well funded and Han Solo knew just who to ask to train the new recruits.


	3. Chapter 2

Obi Wan Kenobi was a famed warrior during a previous civil war, but after a very public feud that saw his brother in arms ally himself with the Emperor, he embarked on a self imposed exile wandering the deserts for years. There he remained even after the Emperor fell and the man he once called friend was dead, despite his former friend’s children begging him to help train them.

He lived the quiet, solitary life of a hermit for many years before fathering a daughter late in life. Her mother did not survive the birth, so Obi Wan was left to care for his little Rey alone. He looked into the small girl’s hazel eyes and he saw the world anew, but then was also weighed down with regret; why had he waited so long to let someone into his life?

Not wanting to impose his way of life on the small child, they settled in the small town of Jakku, famous for being the location of the old Emperor’s loyalist’s last stand. He wasn’t there for the Skywalker twins at the time, but now he was with them in spirit in the place that secured their rule.

There they stayed for a few happy years. Rey loved to hear his old war stories and would sit at his feet enthralled, as he regaled her and the other children in the neighbourhood with tales of his daring adventures. He would sit and laugh as the children ran around reenacting his stories with sticks instead of swords.

But their happiness couldn’t last forever and old Kenobi died when Rey was five years old. She was taken in by a kind neighbour called Maz Kanata who raised her along with her own grandson Finn.

As kind as Maz was, money was tight, so Rey and Finn both had to go out and work as soon as they were able so that they could have enough to eat.

As she grew up Rey appreciated all that Maz and Finn did for her, but she missed her father terribly. But as legendary as Kenobi was, his name got her nothing. The only job Rey could get as an adult was searching the junkyards for scraps her boss, Unkar Plutt, could sell on for profit, none of which she would see.

He was an awful boss and paid her less because she was a woman even though she did the same work as Finn and the other men in his employ.

Rey longed for a chance to prove herself, but it was a man’s world and the only way a woman would be looked on as more than nothing was if she found a good husband. She had seen them in the nicer parts of town in their long silky dresses, hair perfectly styled, always clean, always well fed, the complete opposite of Rey.

She didn’t want to be one of them necessarily but Rey wanted to be seen as more than a desert rat. Not that she had much of a choice. Finding a husband that society deemed respectable required money and a visit from the matchmaker, one that Rey didn’t have the other she didn’t want.

As Rey sat and waited in the shade of a spinebarrel tree for Finn and Maz to join her for lunch, she couldn’t help but wonder if this would be her life, working herself to the bone in the junkyards all day with little to show for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think that Rey is a Kenobi, but I wanted to make her one in this so that I could have a line later on.


	4. Chapter 3

“You should go talk to her,” Rey nudged Finn. He had been not-so-subtly staring at Rose as she worked in her family’s tea shop.

“What?” Finn blushed and turned back to his barely touched food. He had had a crush on Rose for years now, despite never having said a word to her.

“Yes, go.” Maz was in on it as well. “If you’re not going to be with Rey, I would have you be happy with someone else.” Rey rolled her eyes and shook her head. A while ago Maz had tried to get Rey and Finn together but it wasn’t going to work. They were like brother and sister, best friends and that was it.

“I can’t Grandma. She would never like a guy like me. Besides she’ll be seeing the matchmaker soon and she’ll easily get a proper husband.” Finn sounded like he had resigned himself to his fate. “Not to mention her sister is really scary.”

As if on cue, Rose’s sister Paige came out of the shop with a scowl on her face and a thin bamboo stick in her hand. Finn sank down hoping she wouldn’t notice him. He had seen her use that stick on boys who tried to be too familiar with her sister.

Rey felt sorry for Finn even though she didn’t know how he felt. There was no one in town who had caught her attention and she was too plain looking and always covered in dirt and sweat for anyone to look at her the way Finn looked and Rose.

The peace of the afternoon was interrupted by the ringing of the bell at the edge of town signifying that something big was approaching.

Rey, Finn and Maz made their way to the town centre where a large crowd had gathered around the important visitors. An older man with long whiskers and watery eyes sat atop a brown horse flanked by mounted armed guards. They carried the flag of the New Republic.

“The First Order has invaded the New Republic!” he shouted. A mummer went through the crowd. They had all heard the stories of the barbaric things the First Order had done in the lands beyond their borders.

Some parents carried small children away, to protect them from the mere mention of the name. Rey even saw Rose being dragged off by her sister. But she could see the truth, as could some of those around her, that the only way to keep their loved ones safe was to fight.

“The army is recruiting! Every able bodied young man is highly encouraged to sign up!” he had to shout to be heard over the crowd. Rey was jostled as the men around her pushed their way through the crowd towards the guards who were handing out conscription notices.

Rey was suddenly angry by the whole thing. The men would go off to fight, but what would she do? She was capable, she had taught herself how to fight, she had to otherwise she would lose her prize to other scavengers and she wouldn’t get her meagre wage from Plutt. And if she had some proper training then she could be great.

Rey was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn’t see the look of worried concern on Maz’s face.


	5. Chapter 4

“Don’t you see Grandma? When I come back a war hero, Rose will want to go out with me and there’ll be no reason why Paige or any matchmaker will disapprove.” Finn had been trying to convince Maz all afternoon as to why he had picked up a conscription notice and wanted to go to war.

“And what about your poor Grandma? What about Rey? What will we do when you’re blown to pieces?” Maz was almost hysterical, banging pots and pans against the work surface as she tried to prepare the evening meal.

“I’d be doing it for you too. To protect you from the First Order.” Finn looked at his Grandma pleadingly. “Please don’t be angry Grandma. I don’t want to leave you but I feel like this is something I have to do, for all of us to have a better life.”

“I’m not angry Finn, just scared. I don’t want to lose you.” Maz throw her arms around her grandson’s waist and squeezed him tightly, making him gasp for air before returning her hug.

Rey watched from the side of the room with a sad smile. It was at times like this that she missed her father most, her real family. Not that she didn’t love and care for Finn and Maz, but there was always that sense of not belonging no matter how kind they were to her.

That evening they had one last meal together. It was a quiet affair with everyone either too anxious or emotional to speak. Maz cooked, Finn washed up and Rey put away it, as was the way it had always been, but what would it be going forward?

When it came time for Finn to leave, Maz saw him off with one last crushing hug and a pack of food for the journey.

Rey offered to walk with him to the edge of town. It was a mainly silent walk but as they reached the drop off point, Finn turned to Rey. “You will look after Grandma won’t you?”

“Of course I will, but I think she’s quite capable of looking after herself.” Rey placed a hand on his arm reassuringly. “Do you remember the time she walked out into traffic to prove that a cricket was lucky?”

Finn couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s not that reassuring, but yes I know she can, but what about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Finn raised an eyebrow like he wasn’t convinced. “Besides I know we’ll see each other again.”

“I promise we will,” Finn said and pulled Rey into one last hug. She waved goodbye as he started his journey to the training camp, before turning and heading back home.

The town centre was quiet now after the excitement of the afternoon and Rey was free to walk through unencumbered, kicking a few rocks as she went. It wasn’t fair that Finn got to go do his bit while she was stuck scavenging the junkyards of Jakku.

A discarded conscription notice caught her eye just before she was about to kick it. It seemed that someone wasn’t as keen as Finn to join the army.

Picking it up gave Rey a crazy good idea, but it wouldn’t work, would it?


	6. Chapter 5

“I see what you’ve got there and what your planning.” Rey jumped when she arrived back and found Maz waiting up for her.

“What? No I wasn’t going to do anything,” she hastily hid the conscription notice behind her back, but she knew Maz had already seen.

“Child I have raised you since you were five years old, I know when you’re trying to hide something from me. You’re going to have to get better at lying if your plan is going to work.”

“You can’t be suggesting I go?” Rey exclaimed. “If the army finds out I’m a girl, the penalty is death.” She had assumed Maz would try and talk her out of it.

“If they find out,” Maz said slyly. “I’ll help you get ready.” She got up and started making her way up to the attic.

“I can’t go I promised Finn I’d look out for you.” she called after Maz. For one so small and old, she moved surprisingly fast.

“Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself. It’s Finn I’m worried about. You two have always looked out for one another and if you’re not with him, I’m scared he won’t come back.” Maz’s voice broke with those last few words and she had to turn away to wipe away a tear or two. “Besides with you two gone, it means I can finally have gentleman callers here again.”

Rey had always liked the way Maz brought humour to brighten up sad situations, even if in this case it made her want to gag.

“How am I going to pull this off?”

“We’ll start off by binding your breasts and cutting your hair. When you get there try not to draw too much attention to yourself, blend in.” Rey nodded, she could do that. “And there’s something in here I should give you.”

They had made it to the attic. It wasn’t somewhere Rey would usually come. It was dark and dusty and full of old pieces of furniture. Maz went over and opened an odd wardrobe revealing a suit of armour.

“It was you father’s.” Rey lightly touched one of the shoulder panels. She didn’t think he had left anything behind and she had to admit it made her a little emotional. It was strange to think that he had worn this as a young man and now she would.

“He also left this.” Maz handed Rey a sword. She sheepishly pulled it from the scabbard to take a look at the blade. It was in very good condition despite not seeing any use for many, many years. The hilt was molded perfectly to fit her hand and in the pommel was a large blue gem stone.

“Maz, why didn’t you sell these years ago?” There were collectors out there who would have paid a pretty penny for them and they had always needed to money.

“They weren’t mine to sell,” Maz said with a shrug. “Now, you have a legacy to live up to.”

A couple of hours later, Rey was on her way, heading in the same direction Finn had, decked out in her father’s armour and sporting a new haircut.

This was it, her chance to prove she could do something worthwhile, and while there was the looming threat of death and exposure she would stay positive and do her bit.


	7. Chapter 6

Rey travelled all night. She was tired but she wanted to catch up with Finn so they could enter the training camp together. She spotted him in a wooded area just outside the camp, where it looked like he had spent the night, and decided to try out her disguise on him.

“Good morning fellow recruit. What a fine day this is to begin our training to kick the First Order’s butt.” she deepened her voice as best she could and tried to give off an air of self confidence.

Finn looked up at her from where he was crouched on the ground doing up his shoe with a quizzical look on his face. The look quickly changed to shock and then anger.

“Rey, what are you doing here?” Finn hissed keeping his voice down in case there was anyone around to hear them.

“How did you know it was me?” she was a bit disappointed that her disguise hadn’t worked.

“How did I know it was you? You look exactly the same just with shorter hair and do you really think that’s what men sound like?” If he wasn’t so angry he’d probably be laughing at her impression.

Rey shrugged. “How do you suggest I improve?”

“I suggest you go back home right now. You promised you’d look after Grandma.” Finn pointed back the way she’d come and started trying to push her off in that direction, but Rey wasn’t moving.

“She’s got other people to look after her,” Finn raised an eyebrow at her, but Rey moved on before he could ask her about it. She was pretty sure Finn didn’t want to hear about his Grandma’s plans. “Besides she told me to follow my heart, to come here and do my part for the New Republic.”

“But Rey, you’re a girl.”

“So? I do plenty of heavy lifting in the junkyards, I have the stamina and you’ve seen me fight off people like Teedo to protect what I’ve scavenged.”

“But what about your, er… monthlies?”

“What about them? I’ve never missed work because of them and they don’t inhibit me from doing my job. They won’t be a problem.”

“Fine, but it’s illegal for a girl to join the army, you know that.”

“Yes but only if I get caught. Which is why you are going to help me fit in. We’re going to look out for each other just like we always have.”

“Fine,” Finn said with a sigh. There was only so long he could argue with Rey before he gave up. “What should I call you then?”

“Ray,” It hadn’t taken her long to come up with it.

“But your name is already Rey,”

“So it’ll be easy for you to remember. Just spell it with an A instead of an E.”

“Just so you know, I have a bad feeling about this.” Finn said as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

Rey rolled her eyes at him, but couldn’t help but smile. He always saw things her way eventually.

“Come on them, we don’t want to be late,” she said as she strutted towards the camp entrance, head held high and shoulders back. Finn shook his head again.

“That’s not how men walk Ray.”


	8. Chapter 7

Rey and Finn entered the camp after he had convinced her to just walk normally. Two things struck her straight away. One was that she was overdressed. Every other man there was casually dressed in just a plain shirt, trousers and boots. As she walked past, she could feel them staring at her in her father’s armour. So much for blending in.

The second was the number of male habits she hadn’t noticed before, some of which were making her stomach turn.

“I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered to Finn after witnessing a third man scratch his butt and belch in the middle of a conversation with another man.

“Well they are men and you’re going to have to act just like them.” he tried to hide his smirk.

Rey groaned into her hands. “Fine. I’ll work on it. What are we supposed to do?” Looking around it seemed that all the new recruits were at leisure, while off in the distance the regular army was mounting up getting ready to move out.

“I guess we’re just hanging around. We could get to know people, get something to eat. Hey look those guys are playing sabacc. You like sabacc. Let’s join in.”

That was true, she liked to play and was pretty good at it. She regularly beat Finn and Maz. So when she and Finn sat down at a table with three other men she had a good feeling about it. That was until she lost each and every hand.

“Well it looks like the new guy owes me three hundred.” said the man with short, dark, curly hair, who had introduced himself as Poe. He leaned back on his chair triumphantly.

“Three hundred?! I didn’t realise we were playing for money.” Rey looked at Finn panicked, neither of them had any money.

“Too bad.” Poe folded his arms unsympathetically. “If you don’t have the money, that sword of yours will do very nicely as payment.”

“No you can’t have it. It was my father’s.”

“I don’t care. If you can’t pay, you shouldn’t play. Now hand it over.” He got to his feet and so did Rey. She started to back away, but she backed into a very large man with thick brown hair and a matching beard, essentially blocking her escape. “I said hand it over.”

He was advancing on her and she just stood there. She knew that she should do something but was frozen to the spot.

Just before Poe could grab her, Finn charged and tackled him to the ground.

“Poe are you alright,” asked the big guy behind her as he moved towards his fallen friend. He was big and looked intimidating, but was a bit dim.

“Rey run!” shouted Finn and then grunted as Poe elbowed him in the ribs. Rey didn’t need to be told twice.

“Snap you idiot you let him get away. Joph go get him.” Poe shouted at the third man as he continued to scrap with Finn on the floor.

Rey ran further into the camp. She had no idea where she was going or where she would go, but she needed to get away for now.

Looking behind her she saw the third man from the sabacc table bearing down on her. So distracted by what was going on behind her, she didn’t realise she was about to run into the line of people waiting to get food. Rey collided with them with such force that it caused the whole line to topple like dominoes, taking out the service area, sending all the food tumbling onto the ground and ruining everyone’s lunch.

Suddenly, Rey found the angry faces of those in the lunch line and those from the sabacc table on her.

“Hey guys,” she tried to laugh, turn it into a joke, but everything had gone terribly wrong and now she was going to be in the middle of a giant fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if that was slightly awkward...
> 
> Anyway guess who we get to see next week?


	9. Chapter 8

“The First Order has struck here, here and here.” the General pointed to the three areas on a map of the New Republic with his riding crop. It was the very latest intelligence and helped confirm how fast the enemy’s army was moving.

“I will take the main troops into the mountains and stop Snoke before he destroys the village of Hosnian Prime.”

Ben Solo stared at the map thoughtfully and agreed. That’s what he would do if he was in charge.

“Excellent strategy sir. I do love surprises.” Ackbar started laughing at his own joke. Ben fought hard not to roll his eyes at the council member who had been assigned to the camp. The General looked at him impassively and he soon shut up.

“You will stay and turn the new recruits.” Ben sat up a bit straighter, not quite believing what was happening. “And when Ackbar believes you are ready, you will join us, Captain.”

Ben could only blink as his father handed him the ceremonial sword that signified his new rank.

“This is an enormous responsibility General.” Ackbar suddenly piped up. “Perhaps a soldier with more experience,”

“Number one in his class. Extensive knowledge of training techniques. An impressive military lineage,” Han Solo never gave up an opportunity to stroke his own ego. “I believe Ben will do an excellent job.”

Ackbar wasn’t too pleased with his new appointment, but it was all Ben had ever wanted; recognition from his father.

“Oh I will. I won’t let you down. This is… I mean… Yes sir.” As excited as he was he still had to remember his place.

“Very good then. We’ll toast the New Republics victory in the Capital City.” Han picked up his helmet and made to leave the command tent, but turned to Ackbar first. “I expect a full report in six weeks.”

“And I won’t leave anything out.” he turned his critical gaze towards the new captain before exciting before exiting the tent himself.

The fact that he was going to be under Ackbar’s scrutiny wasn’t going to dampen Ben’s mood. 

Alone in the tent he allowed himself to fantasise. “Captain Ben Solo,” That sounded good he thought. “Leader of the finest troops in the New Republic has ever seen.” He chuckled to himself and stepped out of the tent into a scene of disarray that made his jaw drop.

All the men were fighting, there was food everywhere, some chickens had got loose and were running around and one man was using a fish to beat someone else over the head.

Ackbar stood there with a look of disgust and contempt on his face, his father just looked amused.

“Good luck kid.” Han said trying not to smile too much, as he mounted his horse Millennium; a slightly scruffy looking horse but dependable like her owner, white with patches of grey.

The General rode off followed by the rest of the main army that was stationed at the camp.

As Ben watched his father leave, he wondered just what he had let himself in for. He didn’t remember his own basic training starting off with a riot.


	10. Chapter 9

“Day one,” Ben turned to see that Ackbar had a smug look on his face and had already started writing his report. Ben would have been annoyed if he wasn’t so determined to prove himself. Drawing his shoulders back and holding his head high, he put on an air of confidence to address his troops.

“Soldiers!” Ben shouted and immediately everybody froze. Punches and kicks paused mid-swing and the big blue fish was held aloft. He watched as the men’s eyes widened in recognition of his authority and in the realisation that they were in trouble.

“They started it!” each man cried in unison as they stepped back to reveal two men curled up on the ground, one with his arm protectively over the other.

Ben walked over and stood directly in front of the pair as they realised that all eyes were on them and they got up to face the consequences.

He watched them as they dusted themselves off. Nothing struck him as unusual about the black man but there was something strange about his smaller companion. For starters he looked very young, his eyes still wide and innocent and he looked like he wasn’t even old enough to shave. The second was that he was dressed in full armour, not only that but he recognised it, his grandfather had owned a set just like it.

“I don’t need anyone causing trouble in my camp.” he said getting in their faces.

“Sorry,” said the small young one, and Ben wondered if he had misheard because their voice sounded too soft and high. “I mean… sorry you had to see that, but you know how it is when you get those manly urges and you just gotta punch someone.” To emphasise his point he lightly punched Ben on the arm. The boys friend buried his head in his hands out of shame, Ben just raised an eyebrow. His voice was deeper now but Ben wasn’t totally convinced.

“Names and conscription notices from the pair of you.”

“Finn Kanata sir,”

“Ray Kenobi sir,” The pair scrambled to hand him their conscription notices, but Ben something else caught Ben’s attention.

“Kenobi? As in Obi Wan Kenobi?” Ben had grown up on the stories of Kenobi’s adventures with his grandfather. 

“I didn’t know Kenobi had any children,” Ackbar appeared at his shoulder.

“Well he’s dead now so…” Ray trailed off.

Ben couldn’t let himself feel sorry for Ray, couldn’t let himself become friends even though he wanted to know more about their sort of shared history. If he was to successfully train and lead these men, he had to be firm and set himself above them.

“OK gentlemen. Thanks to your new friends Finn and Ray, you’ll spend the rest of the day cleaning the camp until it’s spotless.” He ignored the grumbling of the men. “And tomorrow the real work begins.” He walked away from them then, knowing that angry looks were being sent in Ray and Finn’s direction.

Good, he thought. That will teach them to start fights in my camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That line was pretty much the reason I made Rey a Kenobi in this story.  
> How you're still with me. Plenty of awkward character interactions ahead.


	11. Chapter 10

Rey and Finn were relegated to the smallest tent on the very edge of the camp, right next to where the horses were kept. No one had spoken a word to them but they been shoulder barged and elbowed several times as they and the rest of the new recruits cleared up the camp under Captain Solo’s supervision.

They were sharing a tent which didn’t bother them and also made it easier to keep Rey’s secret safe. It definitely wouldn’t be allowed if anyone knew the truth, but they had always lived in close confines.

It was pretty late by the time they got to bed and they had practically fallen asleep as soon as their heads hit the uncomfortable, standard issue pillow. All thoughts of the next day and how they were going to keep up this charade, were far from their minds.

Rey woke up with a start when she heard the chickens they had to round up yesterday loudly clucking nearby. It was only just after sunrise but it suddenly dawned on Rey that they were late.

“Finn wake up!” Rey cried as she began to shake her friend.

“The porridge has a face Grandma,” Finn mumbled in his sleep.

“Finn!”

“Alright I’m up!” he shouted as he awoke with a sudden jolt. Finn sat up but was having trouble opening his eyes. “Why is it so early?”

“It’s no earlier than when we have to get up to work for Plutt.” Rey said as she adjusted her clothing while Finn respectively looked away. They had all been given a standard issue outfit to wear while training. “Come on, let’s see if we can find any breakfast,”

Rey dragged Finn towards the exercise yard where they were supposed to meet. There was a smooth giant pole that must have been about 30 foot high and other pieces of equipment already gathered at the side. Rey was excited to see some quarter staffs, she was well acquainted with those, but she was less excited to see that there was no food insight and that all the other recruits were already there with Ackbar trying and failing to keep them under control.

“Order. People order,” Ackbar shouted with little effect.

“I’d like pan fried noodles,” Poe answered back, always the joker.

“Ooo sweet and sour shrimp,” added Snap but immediately looked downcast when he realised it was a joke and they wouldn’t be getting any more food.

Rey and Finn tried to slip in unnoticed, but that didn’t work. Everyone went silently as soon as they were spotted.

“Well well, looks like our new friends slept in this morning,” the blonde haired Joph said with a cruel smirk on his face, as Rey and Finn took their places in the line.

“Yeah because I owe you a knuckle sandwich,” Poe grabbed Rey by the collar and pulled back his fist ready to strike. The larger man, Snap, held Finn back. But luckily they were interrupted before anything could happen.

“Soldiers!” the deep voice of Captain Solo cut across the chatter of the assembled recruits, making them all stand to attention. He strode into the exercise yard in his own training gear, fists clenched at his side.

Rey felt her jaw drop as she watched him slip off his thin jacket to reveal his pale and muscular chest. The high waisted black trousers were an odd choice in her opinion, but she couldn’t deny that the confidence he was exuding by bearing himself to them, was attractive.

He stood in front of them running his eyes across them, assessing their worth. They hadn’t got off to the best of starts the day before, so his opinion of them was already very low.

He paused momentarily as he caught Rey’s eyes still staring at him. A look she didn’t recognise passed across his face and she remembered where she was and stood back to attention, blushing at the fact that he had caught her staring.

That wasn’t how men looked at each other, was it? Men shouldn’t look at each other like that, should they? She was so confused. How was she going to do this if the first man she had ever felt some attraction to was her commanding officer who thought she was a man?


	12. Chapter 11

“I expect you to gather swiftly and silently every morning.” Captain Solo finished surveying the new recruits. He picked out a bow and quiver of arrows from the pile of equipment and walked down the line. Rey willed herself not to look at him. He was a good few inches taller than her and somehow seemed taller without a shirt on. How was that even possible, she thought.

“Anyone who does otherwise will answer to me,” his commanding tone was doing funny things to her stomach.

“Oooo tough guy,” Poe said mockingly under his breath. Rey had a feeling Poe was used to being the class clown and would always make comments like this.

“Dameron,” the captain nocked an arrow and drew back the bow as he turned to aim it at Poe. Everyone else stepped back to allow for a clean shot. This confused Rey. Were they really going to let this man be shot? True he was arrogant and had tried to steal from her, but still?

Then the captain changed his aim and shot the arrow into the top of the high pole. Relief flooded into Poe’s eyes.

“Thank you for volunteering,” Captain Solo said with a mock smile as he put down the bow and arrows. “Retrieve the arrow.”

“I’ll get that arrow pretty boy, and I’ll do it with my shirt on.” Poe grumbled as he made his way over to the base of the pole. If the captain heard him, he choose to ignore it.

“One moment, you seem to be missing something.” the captain approached with Ackbar behind him who was carrying something heavy. He easily took two weights out of the box and grabbed Poe’s arm. “This represents discipline,” he tied the weight to Poe’s wrist and let go. His arm immediately dropped to the floor revealing the true weight. Rey and Finn just looked at each other while the others snigger at Poe’s misfortune. 

“And this represents strength,” he tied the second weight to Poe’s other wrist, weighing him down further. “You need both to reach the arrow.” And with that Poe was free to climb.

It didn’t go well. He barely got anywhere before he was back on the ground again. The weights round his wrists were hanging there uselessly, swinging around making it difficult to pull himself up or balance.

The sniggering continued until everyone realised they would all be having a go. And it went just as well for all of them.

Rey couldn’t understand it as she got up from her failed attempted, rubbing her backside after falling painfully on it. She knew how to climb. She knew how to climb while carrying heavy things, thanks to her time scavenging. So did Finn. True anything she had to carry was strapped to her back and she had picks in her hands and on her shoes, but the principle was still the same.

All in all it was a very disappointing morning, topped off when she heard Captain Solo mutter, “We have a long way to go.”


	13. Chapter 12

The next few weeks do not go well either.

Every night Finn and Rey got back to their tent bone tired and bruised and just passed out from exhaustion. However they had been getting up on time to have some breakfast, but often with that meal, and others, their fellow recruits, having not forgiven them for the first day, would take their portions or knock their food to the ground. They were not well liked.

Captain Solo worked them hard, making them do drills for hours until they were somewhere near his impossibly high standards.

Rey decided he probably wasn’t as attractive as she initially thought. He was a hard task master with a face in an almost permanent scowl and every time she caught him looking at her, she knew it was with disappointment. Nothing she, or the others, could do was good enough.

That didn’t stop her getting distracted by his chest, how his pecs glistened in the sun or the way his back muscles moved. It was getting quite bad at night when she was alone with her thoughts.

At least no one had suspected her of being a girl, which was a relief. Keeping up the facade was just as exhausting as the workouts.

The first time they were doing staff training, Rey had been excited. She had been self taught and was looking forward to some proper instruction. But it was ruined when someone, she suspected it was Joph, he liked practical jokes, put some kind of creepy crawly down the back of her top, causing her to make a scene.

Of course this got the captain’s attention and after nearly whacking him in the head with the staff she was holding, he hauled her up by the neck of her top and began to shout in her face. But Rey wasn’t listening, she was too busy praying that he wouldn’t look down and see her breast binding.

That had been weeks ago and while Rey had tried to keep her head down and stay out of trouble, trouble kept finding her.

Today they were supposed to be demonstrating what they’d learned by taking on the captain, but he was easily defeating all of them, offering no praise, encouragement or constructive criticism, which Rey didn’t feel was very good. How could they improve, or want to improve, is he stayed silent?

When it came to her turn to go up against Captain Solo, he let her have the first move and she didn’t hold back. Rey let the frustration and anger she felt towards him and her fellow recruits fuel her.

She saw it in his face that he hadn’t been expecting her strength and fury as he meet and blocked her first few shots with his own staff. Being smaller than him meant she had to.

He regained his self-assurance and in turn pressed her, forcing her backwards, but she was not going to let him get the better of her.

Their staffs locked together and Rey thought back on all the times in the junkyard where she had lost her prize, all the times she had been looked over for one thing or another and let that fuel her further.

Rey ducked out of his way causing a momentary loss of balance that she used to her advantage. She struck a blow to his leg, making him go down, then to his hands disarming him, and finally a hit across his face that broke the skin above his eyebrow and sent him sprawling out on his back.

The training ground was silent apart from the sound of their heavy breathing until someone behind her went “Woah” and she remembered where she was.

Rey rushed over to the captain. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t…” she didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence.

Quick as a flash, Ben hooked his legs round hers, pulled her down towards him and he rolled over so that he was on top.

Rey was too surprised and panicked to speak. There was a man on top of her, what was she supposed to do?

His face was so close to hers, the blood from his brow threatened to drop down on to hers, but she couldn’t care about that right now. His expressive brown eyes were searching hers for something, she didn’t know what. His plump lips were right there, begging to be kissed, she had to bite her own to stop herself from doing something stupid.

He finally spoke. “Never lose your advantage Kenobi.” Then he got up, not offering her a hand. “Dismissed.” he shouted at the rest of the recruits that she had once again forgotten were standing there. Then he left to get his head sorted out.

Once he was gone, Finn rushed forward and helped her up. “Are you OK?” he asked. Rey just nodded she had that funny feeling in her stomach again and didn’t trust herself to speak.

To her surprise, Poe Dameron also came up to her. “Nice one Kenobi,” he said with a smirk and patted her on the back. That was the nicest thing he had ever said to her.


	14. Chapter 13

Ben sat alone in his tent feeling a bit sorry for himself. The camp’s doctor had patched him up quickly. It was a small cut, it might scar, but the only thing that hurt was his pride.

Somehow the tiny Kenobi had taken him out and he was feeling conflicted. On the one hand he should be pleased that one of his recruits was showing some actual ability and improvement, but on the other hand, he felt under mind. Not to mention everyone else seemed to be particularly useless during every other exercise they had done.

They were half way through their allotted training time and Ben just knew that the report Ackbar was writing was painting everyone in a negative light, especially him. Then his father would read it and that would be that. His one chance to prove that he was worthy of the Solo name, worthy of the Skywalker legacy, would be gone. Then what would he be, what would he do?

Ben needed to think, he needed to find a way to turn this around, but all he could think about was the way Ray Kenobi looked when he was lying beneath him.

He had ended practice fights like that before, but never got a reaction like that.

Ben had suspected Kenobi found him attractive since the first morning when he had caught him staring at his bare chest. He had thought nothing of it until he’d caught himself staring at Ray’s butt as he was rubbing it after falling on it after his attempt to climb the pole, and then when he would bend over during exercises, and even when he was just stood in the line for food.

He wanted to stop the other recruits from picking on him, wanted to see him genuinely laugh and smile. But he couldn’t show special treatment which was why he had shouted at him during the first staff session even though he knew one of the others had put something down the back of his top.

Ben knew he shouldn’t feel this way, not because it was wrong for men to have feelings for each other, but because he was Kenobi’s superior officer, he would be seen as taking advantage.

The truth was these feelings were all new to Ben, and that’s what scared him. He had been in male only environments most of his life and never once felt anything more than platonically about anyone else and if he left the army, he had always presumed that his mother would find him someone suitable to marry so he’d never thought about love or romance, it had no place in his regimented life.

But now this skinny, innocent, clumsy boy had hit him on the head and changed all that, the way that Ray had bit his lip as he lay beneath him made him want to lean down and kiss him. But he shouldn’t, he couldn’t.

Ben put his head in his hands. He was so screwed.


	15. Chapter 14

“We still don’t fit in,” Rey sighed as she picked at the food on her plate.

“Does it matter?” Finn asked in between bites. “At least they’ve stopped harassing us now.” It was true. Ever since Rey had taken down the captain, the other recruits had left them alone, not done anything to sabotage them, not taken any of their food, but had made no effort to interact with them in a positive way. They were currently sat together away from the main group eating their evening meal.

“I know, I just, I just feel bad for you that’s all,” Rey stared at the uneaten rice on her plate.

“What do you mean?” Finn stopped eating and looked at her quizzically.

“I mean, if I wasn’t here, if I hadn’t given us both a really bad first impression, you’d be over there right now,” she nodded over to the fire pit where the others were sat around laughing at something someone had said. “Talking about whatever men talk about. You could fit in and have a good time instead of just having me for company.”

“No Rey why would you think that?” he took hold of her forearm. “You’re my best friend, I don’t resent you for anything. Besides we’ve seen what those guys are really like and if they weren’t picking on us, they’d pick on someone else.”

“I know but I still want to do something that will impress them, earn their respect.”

“We don’t need their respect, besides they’re only interested in practical jokes most of the time and Captain Solo hates us enough already.”

Rey knew that was probably true but she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him.

“I know but maybe we could do something that shows we are capable and belong here.” Rey looked around as she was thinking.

“Like what?” he asked. Finn followed her gaze when he noticed she had stopped. Then shook his head. She was looking at the arrow at the top of the pole.

“No.”

“What? It’s perfect,”

“It’s impossible,”

“I’m sure its not. We will get that arrow before the night is out.” Rey smiled at him brightly, Finn dropped his head and groaned.

They waited until darkness fell and everyone else had gone to bed before meeting at the base of the pole with the weights they had snuck out of storage.

“Right, you’re going first,” Rey said to Finn, trying to keep her voice down.

“Why do I have to go first?”

“Because you don’t want to be here.”

“You make no sense,” Finn said as he gave in, as he always did, and strapped the weights to his wrists.

His first attempt at a climb went just as well as it did the first time with him back on the ground almost immediately.

“Well I told you it was impossible, let’s just go to bed.” but Rey wasn’t listening, just looking up and down the pole intently.

“There must be a way. We must be missing something.”

Finn sighed and decided to just go with it.

“You know, if this pole wasn’t quite so wide, I could lock my hands round the back of it and use that to shimmy my way up to the top, like how we used to climb veshok trees.” Finn smiled at the memory, but it seemed to spark something else in Rey.

“Yes and when they were too wide we used a rope as a counterbalance.” she grabbed one of the weights still hanging from his wrist. “Captain Solo said we had to use both of these to reach the arrow. What if… Put your arms round the pole.”

Finn wasn’t following but he did as she said. He felt her pulling on the weights but he couldn’t see what she was doing.

“Pull on the weights,” she said as she came back into view. He did as she asked and felt them lock into place. Rey smiled.

“What did you do?”

“I tied them together. Now you can use it as a counterbalance to get to the top.”

“Rey you’re a genius,” he finally caught up with her.

“Only if it works. Go on, up you go.”

“Are you sure? It was your idea,”

“Yes, you’re already tied in. Now go,”

Finn began his climb, slowly shuffling up the pole while Rey stood at the bottom cheering him on. She tried to keep quiet but her excitement paired with the fact Finn was getting further and further away from her, meant that didn’t last long.

“What are you doing? You’re being kind of loud.” she turned to see that Snap had got up to see what she was doing. The impression she got was that he was a gentle giant and he seemed nice. It was a shame that he was friends with Poe.

“Sorry, but look,” she pointed up at Finn who was about half way.

“Wow he figured it out,” Snap said in amazement.

“No I figured it out,” she said defensively but Snap wasn’t listening.

“Hey guys. Finn figured it out.” he ran off to tell the others while Rey just stood there scowling to herself. Maybe she should have taken Finn’s offer.

Soon the rest of the recruits had been roused from their beds and gathered at the base of the pole. They didn’t concern themselves about whether or not they were making too much noise as they cheered Finn on, neither Captain Solo or Ackbar had made an appearance yet.

They gasped in unison as Finn stumbled near the top but caught himself quickly and continued the remaining distance to the very top.

The captain finally made an appearance as they let out a final cheer as Finn pulled himself up to sit on top of the pole. He looked at the gathered crowd then up at Finn, who was pumping his fists in victory, and Rey thought she could detect the smallest trace of a smile on his lips.

He didn’t flinch or show any change in emotion as Finn throw the arrow down to land at his feet.

“This is great and all,” Finn shouted down to no one in particular. “But how do I get down?”


	16. Chapter 15

They eventually got Finn down. His arms and legs were like jelly from the monumental effort of climbing to the top of the pole and he didn’t resist when the others picked him up and carried him off in celebration.

Rey just stood there trying not to let her disappointment show. It had been her idea and Finn was getting all the credit and she hadn’t heard him trying to correct anyone. Maybe he’s just tired, she thought, he’ll tell everyone what happened tomorrow and then everyone will get along and they could work as a team.

Left alone with her thoughts, Rey started to kick at the dirt, wondering if she should just go back to bed. When a deep voice startled her.

“I know it was your idea.” she turned around to see Captain Solo was still stood outside his tent, wearing his black high waisted trousers and open shirt.

“How?” she stammered.

“I was watching for longer than you think.” she couldn’t help but blush as he walked closer. “You have potential Kenobi, I could already tell that from your bloodline. But you’re unbalanced, too easily controlled by your emotions.”

“What do you mean?” she looked up at him. He was so tall, she should feel intimidated by him, but she didn’t.

“The other day, you attacked me in anger.”

“But isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? To kick butt?”

He gave her a small smile. “Yes but to be effective you need to be tough and gentle at the same time.”

She looked at him quizzically. “How can you be tough and gentle at the same time?” Somehow she couldn’t image the big strong man in front of her being gentle. Then she blushed as an image of him caressing her…

“I know it does sound a little strange,” He rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t notice her blushing which Rey was thankful for. “But they are opposites and to be a good warrior you need to bring it all into balance.” Ben looked around them and saw no one. “Come with me.”

Rey followed as he lead her to a quite and secluded part of the camp. A brief memory of Maz warning her not to go off alone with men at night crossed her mind, but she quickly waved it away. Nothing would happen, besides she could defend herself.

“What are we doing out here?” she asked.

“I’m giving you a private lesson. Here,” he throw a staff at her that she only just managed to catch. “Part of being a warrior is to think fast, stand your ground, to be unafraid.”

They ran through some drills together. Captain Solo, Ben, corrected her stance and weight placement a few times and she tried not to get too distracted when his hands touched her. They spared a little and Rey felt like her form was improving. Ben even complimented her, which did nothing to quell the tingly feeling that went through her tummy.

“OK. I’m ready,” Rey said taking up a fighting stance with her staff.

“Not quite,” Ben reached to take the staff off her, their fingers brushing. Rey looked at their hands then up at her captain to see that he had done the same thing. Their eyes meet for a moment before they each looked away.

“So,” Ben coughed and turned away. “The second part requires us to meditate. Take a seat.”

They sat opposite each other on the ground, facing each other.

“As a warrior, you will face certain death but aside from that we all have our personal fears. You need to think on them and become at peace with yourself that it’s OK to be afraid and that facing these fears will make you a stronger person.”

He then shut his eyes and Rey did the same. What did she fear the most? Was it being discovered? Her blossoming feelings for her captain? Abandonment? She couldn’t decide.

Slowly she opened one eye to take a peak at Ben. He was still sat there with his eyes closed. She wondered what he was thinking about.

“What are you afraid of?” she asked boldly.

He opened his eyes then looked straight at her with an unreadable expression before looking away.

“Of being a disappointment,” he said with a sigh. “To my father, my mother, my uncle. Everyone.”

“As you’ve helped me this evening, let me help you.” Rey said.

“How?”

“Well I know you’re worried about Ackbar’s report,” she saw him swallow. “What you’ve done with me tonight has been perfect with all the constructive criticism and compliments, you should do that when we’re all together in a group.”

“You’re right, Ray, thank you.” He got up then offered her his hand to help her up. She took up.

They stood there for a minute, as he held her hand, neither daring to look the other in the eye.

“Well, I should let you get to bed,” he said he reluctantly let go of her hand. All Rey could do was nod as she bit her lip to hide her smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a couple of people asked me why I made it so that Finn got the arrow instead of Rey. It was so that Rey and Ben could have some alone time.  
> Also this chapter was inspired by the opening number from Mulan 2, my favourite guilty pleasure movie.


	17. Chapter 16

The morning sun was slowly climbing over the mountains as they assembled in the courtyard. Yesterday, Captain Solo had ordered them to assemble just after dawn, this raised some questions among some of the soldiers who were slowly making their way out of their tents.

Finn was receiving a lot of attention after yesterday’s events as they waited for Captain Solo to arrive, several soldiers came up to him, patting on the back and congratulating him, Rey couldn’t help feeling slightly jealous of the attention he was receiving.

“Soldiers!” Ben’s voice boomed across the camp, the soldiers immediately stopped talking and fell into line and Ben paced up and down the ranks. “I trust you all slept well, and I’m sure you’re very much looking forward to breakfast.” A general murmur went around the men, they were feeling rather hungry after yesterday's training.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your meal. But first you will have to catch it.” His words caused confusion among the men who were wondering if the Captain had lost it and was really expecting every man to suddenly fend for himself and hunt down his breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“Form up and follow me,” he ordered. The men quickly got into formation and set off behind the captain as they ran out of the camp and across the fields. “What do you think the Captain has in mind” asked Finn as he ran alongside Rey.

“I have no idea” Rey replied, she was more focused on keeping pace with the person in front of her. She was quite surprised with herself, it seemed that all the previous training had strengthened her and the running pace wasn’t taxing her at all.

They ran on for several miles, over the surrounding fields, through a small wooded section before coming out of the trees along side a rather wide but somewhat shallow section of river. Captain Solo ordered them to halt on the river bank, several soldiers sat down breathing heavily, including Finn. But Rey remained standing, she felt great, the run had energised her and she felt like she could go on for longer.

After a short rest, Ben ordered the soldiers to gather round him, he was standing in the river with the water running around his knees. “You’re out in the field now soldiers, civilisation is a long way away and you need to fend for yourself.” His and Rey’s eyes met for a second, she looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze.

“A well fed soldier is an effective soldier,” he continued, “Even if that means catching his own meal.” He waded out into the middle of the river, the water running round his thighs. He raised his right arm above his head and stared down at the water like a bird of prey waiting to strike. The soldiers watched on in silence as he remained still.

Suddenly, Ben plunged his arm down into the water and pulled it out again. A silver fish was caught in his grasp and he made his way back to the bank. “Well gentlemen” he said addressing the men. “I’ve caught my breakfast, now it is your turn”  
They all began to wade out into the river, the coldness of the water providing a welcome relief after their earlier run and spread themselves out. What ensued was a lot of splashing and a lot of cursing as the fish slipped through the fingers of the men. 

However, Rey was being patient, she had observed the Captain, how he stood perfectly still, waiting of the perfect opportunity to strike. She spotted a fish swimming in front of her, she almost made a grab for it but restrained herself, waiting for it to come closer and closer. As the fish was almost touching her leg she swiftly plunged her arm into the water, closed her hand around the fish and pulled it out the water.

“Yes!” she exclaimed rather loudly, much to the annoyance of those around her who were having a lot less luck. It certainly wasn’t a big fish, but it would do for breakfast. She walked over to the river bank, towards the Captain who had prepared a large campfire and was now cooking his fish, he looked up at her.

“Not bad Ray” he said, examining her catch. “Seems like you fish as well as you fight,” he chuckled to himself. After rather clumsily preparing the fish and putting in on the fire, she took a seat next to Ben. They sat in silence for a while, each not waiting to be the first to speak. Rey was just about to open her mouth when a loud shout went up from the river. Finn had managed to catch himself a fish and was now making his way over.

Slowly, more and more men began catching fish and making their way over, before too long they were all sat around the fire cooking their catches. Captain Solo had taken himself off and was now in the river, picking up rocks from the river bed and throwing them ashore. It was rather plain breakfast but filling nonetheless.

Once they had all finished Ben made his way over. “Soldiers, I trust you have all enjoyed your meal. Each and every one of you has done well,” Rey felt was warm sensation run over her when she heard those words. “Now, on to your next task,” he said gesturing the the pile of rock that he had accumulated at the side of the river bank.

“When you’re in the field you won’t be running empty handed, these rocks are substitutes for your gear, I want everyone to grab a rock and bring it back to camp. Move out!” The men jumped to their feet, grabbed a rock and began their run back to camp. This didn’t phase Rey at all it seemed that she had more energy now than she ever had.


	18. Chapter 17

It had been a long and hard last couple of week of training. Captain Solo had pushed them all to their limit, but they had come out the other side stronger for it. The camaraderie that had formed was untested by battle but everyone believed that it would hold when the time came.

The downside to all this hard work was a rather an unpleasant one, having to train most of the hours given to them with only time to eat and sleep left little time to take care of their personal hygiene, everyone stank.

Finn and the guys didn’t seem to mind or notice, but Rey couldn’t stand it any longer, the small tent that she shared with Finn was so unbearable that she had to sleep with her head poking outside.

On the last day of training, Captain Solo gave them some down time after completing their twenty mile run and Rey was going to make the most of it.

While the other men were relaxing by the campfire, eating and playing cards, Rey and Finn went down to the lake.

“No way Rey, this is not a good idea, what if someone sees you?” Finn stood one side of a large bush while Rey was on the other side getting ready for her well deserved bath.

“Just because I look like a man, doesn’t mean I have to smell like one.” Finn shook his head. He wasn’t sure how they had kept up the charade for so long.

“If you’re so worried, you can stand watch, but as soon as I’m done you’re getting in, I can’t stay in that tent with you another night.”

Finn didn’t have time to respond before he heard a splash followed Rey’s contented sigh. He sniffed his own armpit, he didn’t smell that bad did he?

Just then, he heard the sound of people approaching, and before he had a chance to warn Rey that they might have company. Poe, Joph and Snap came round the corner obviously ready for their own baths.

“Hey Finn,” said Poe when he spotted him, they were somewhat friends now.

“Hey guys,” Finn replied nervously. He needed to get them away from here. There were a couple of things they would notice about Rey if they got any closer. “I’m sorry guys, but you can’t go in the lake”.

“Why not?” asked Joph, a little disappointed.

“Because… because it is infested with snakes." It was the first thing that popped into his head. “Yes, and they asked me to stand guard to make sure no one goes in and gets hurt”.

“Then why did you let Ray in?” asked Snap, and Finn turned to see Rey doing her attempt at a doggy paddle across the lake behind them, apparently oblivious to the others on the shore. She wasn’t the best swimmer, neither of them were having grown up in the desert.

“OK, so there are no snakes, but...” Think Finn, think. “Ray is very shy and body conscious, so…” he trailed off, hoping they would understand and leave.

“It’s OK, it’s just us, I’m sure he won’t mind, we’re all friends now right?” Poe and the other didn’t wait for Finn to response before they disrobed and jumped in.

“No no no.” thought Finn, what was he going to do now?

Rey looked over her shoulder and saw three very large, very naked men charge into the lake.

“What does Finn think he’s doing?” Rey said angrily to herself, sinking down into the water so everything below her chin was submerged. “That idiot was supposed to warn me if anyone was coming, how am I going to get out of this?”

“Hey Ray! Over here!” Poe called to her. She couldn’t get out of the water now, it was too late for that, she would have to play along for now and hope they wouldn’t notice anything. The sun had set behind the mountains and the lake was illuminated by the glow of the moon. Hopefully it was enough darkness to conceal everything below the water.

“Hey guys,” she called to them in a gruff voice as she made her way over to them, still keeping as low in the water as possible.

Meanwhile, at the side of the lake behind the bushes Finn was desperately trying to struggle out of his clothes, he had to get into the water as quickly as possible and cause a distraction. He had no semblance of a plan at this point, all he knew was he had to get Rey out of there as quickly and as quietly as possible.

“Damn belt.” he muttered to himself as he rolled around accidentally twisting it tighter in his ongoing effort to get out of his clothes.

Rey swam up to Poe, Joph and Snap keeping as low as possible.

“I know we were jerks to you before,” Joff said approaching her. The others nodded in agreement. “I think it’s time we we started over” he offered Rey an outstretched hand “Hi, I’m Joph.”

Rey raised her arm out of the murky lake and took his hand gingerly, he had a very strong, almost vice-like grip, “I see Captain Solo’s training is sinking in,” she thought to herself.

“I’m Snap,” a voice called out from behind Joph as Snap waved to Rey.

“And I’m Poe, King of the rock.” Rey turned to where the voice came from and she went bright red. Poe had clambered onto a rocky outcrop in the middle of the lake and was now stood proudly facing them with his hand on his hips and the glow of the moonlight reflecting off his wet body. Rey struggled to look him in the eye and not turn away in embarrassment.

A splashing sound from the edge of the lake distracted them, Finn had finally managed to disrobe and had come charging into the lake where he promptly tripped and fell face first into the lake.

The men all burst out laughing at this sight, even Rey couldn’t contain herself despite her situation and let out a small chuckle. Finn picked himself up and proceeded to swim out to meet them.

“Ahh Finn, nice of you to join us,” Poe said turning towards him, as Finn made his way between Rey and Snap. Finn did his best to avoid looking at Poe who seemed to be enjoying the situation. Poe jumped down into the water splashing them all before resurfacing and swimming up to Finn. “Nice work getting the arrow the other day Finn, I’m sure Captain Solo will…”

Before Poe could finish his sentence, Snap gave a loud yell.

“Aghh, something bit me!” he exclaimed.

“SNAKE!” shouted Finn as he pointed to something green and slippery that seemed to be making its way up Snaps back. Poe, Joph and Snap all let out a scream as they thrashed around in the water and tried to climb out of the water, onto the rocky outcrop with varying success.

“Quick, come with me.” Finn hissed to Rey taking her by the hand and dragging her over to some reeds by the shore whilst the other men were distracted.

“Was that really a snake?” Rey asked Finn, suspecting he had some part in the commotion.

“Of course not” he said, bundling her out of the water and behind a bush to where their clothes were waiting for them. “You think I really tripped as I ran into the lake? I was actually grabbing some weed of the floor of the lake, that’s what’s currently on Snap’s back”

“Very clever of you,” smiled Rey. “I knew I could rely on you, thank you for getting me out of there”

“Anytime.” replied Finn.

“There is one thing that I still don’t know though.” Rey said, “How did you get Snap to jump like that?” Finn went red and looked down at the ground.

“I had to improvise, so I pinched him bum.” Rey burst out laughing at the news, Finn did not see the funny side right away but as they finished dressed and headed back to camp, they laughed to themselves, pleased that their escapade went unnoticed.


	19. Chapter 18

Rey and Finn walked back from the lake in silence. She was still rather mortified and had a horrible feeling that the images were burnt into her retinas forever.

Finn was at least embarrassed for his part, but didn’t know what to say. He still saw Rey as his innocent little sister and even though she had been living as a man for the last few weeks, this was by far the most exposed she had been.

They were making their way back through camp when they heard arguing from a nearby tent.

“You think you’re troops are ready to fight. Ha. They wouldn’t last five minutes against the First Order.”

“They’ve completed their training.”

“Those boys are no more fit to be soldiers than you are to be captain. Once the General reads my report, your troops will never see battle.”

“We’re not finished,”

“Careful Captain. The General maybe your father, but I am the First Senator’s Counsel. Oh and I got the job on my own. You’re dismissed.”

Finn and Rey froze in place as Ben stormed out of Ackbar’s tent, punching at the fabric of the opening. They knew they shouldn’t have been listening, bit it was hard not to.

Rey couldn’t help but feel for him as he stalked passed, pointedly ignoring them. He had been much better that last couple of weeks, they had improved so much, but it seemed Ackbar didn’t think so. She had to make him see that he was valued.

“Hey, I’ll hold him and you punch.” she said in her deepened voice. She cringed as soon as she said it and Finn screwed up his face, silently asking what the hell she was doing. “Or not. For what it’s worth, I think you’re a great captain.” she added softly.

That made Ben pause and barely look over his shoulder at them, then carried on walking, but Rey could see some of the tension had been released from his shoulders. It made her smile softly to herself.

“I saw that,” Finn said making her jump. She had forgotten he was there. “You like him don’t you?”

“No, I…” Rey stammered.

“Yeah right. You talk in your sleep.” Rey blushed at the fact her subconscious had given her away before she had really figured things out herself. “I bet if he was the one in the lake you wouldn’t have run away so quickly.”

“Finn!” she cried, shoving him as he laughed at her expense.

“But seriously Rey, you can’t. Someone’s going to get hurt.” Rey knew that but she still couldn’t help looking after him longingly. “Come on. Lets get some sleep.”

He started walking towards their tent, only to find she wasn’t following him.

“Rey what are you doing?”

“I’ll be there in a bit. There’s something I need to do first.” she started to walk after the captain, she had a good idea of where he was going.

“No Rey didn’t you hear what I just said?” Finn went to grab her hand to pull her away but she snatched it away before he could. “He obviously wants to be alone.”

“No one ever wants that Finn,” he looked at her sceptically. “Nothing’s going to happen, so I’ll see you later.” And with that she went to find Ben.

She found him in the secluded part of the camp where he had given her the private lesson a few weeks before. He was hitting a tree with a wooden staff. There was no form to it, he just angrily slammed the staff into the side of the tree over and over again, until the staff snapped. Ben throw the broken end away and yelled in frustration.

Rey had to admit she was a bit shocked by this outburst. For all his talk of keeping their emotions in check, he himself had quite the temper.

She gently coughed to get his attention before he took his fists to the tree. His eyes were wild when he turned to face her, they then cycled through a number of emotions; anger, annoyance, shame.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Ben said after taking a few deep breaths, having to lean against the tree to support himself. He had obviously become emotionally drained.

“I get it,” Rey said carefully, not wanting to trigger anything. “You think your greatest fear has come true but it hasn’t, not yet at least.”

“It as good as has though. As soon as the General reads Ackbar’s report, he’ll take away my command, probably give it to Ransolm Casterfo, the smug bastard.”

Rey didn’t know who that was but it was obvious he and Ben weren’t friends.

“You can’t know that. Maybe if we talk to him and show him what we can do then …”

“No he won’t. He’s never given me any special treatment just because I’m his son. In fact the opposite. I’ve had to work twice as hard as everyone else for a fraction of the reward.” He sank down to sit at the base of the tree, drawing his knees up. “I don’t even have any friends in the army. They all decided to pick on me for being the General’s son and he did nothing about it.”

“I’ll be your friend.” That earned her the smallest hint of a smile, and that was enough for her. She kicked some of the splinters out of the way and sat down next to him.

“We can’t be friends. I’m your commanding officer. Any friendship here would be seen as favouritism.”

Rey’s heart sank a little. She put her hand down next to her and stared up at the moon and stars. They looked beautiful on this calm and clean night.

“What about after the war?” she asked. It was a bold statement. Who knew how long that could be or what could happen in the meantime.

“After the war.” It wasn’t a question, he was agreeing with her. She saw him swallow thickly and then drop his hand and slowly move it to his side where it was mere millimeters away from hers.

“After the war,” Ben repeated. “We need to...I should...” he obviously didn’t know what to say but he looked Rey straight in the eyes and anything else she might have said vanished from her mind and her throat went dry.

The air around them was thick with tension. Rey wasn’t sure who had moved, but their fingers were now interlocked and it felt right. It also felt right when she felt herself lean towards him, her eyes beginning to close.

“Captain!” A sudden shout from somewhere nearby broke the mood.

Ben swore under his breath as he hurriedly got up and composed himself, clearing his throat before addressing her. “Remember what I said.” Then he stalked off to see why he was needed, leaving her sat on the floor, still dazed about what nearly just happened.


	20. Chapter 19

Rey returned to the camp to find everyone gathered around. She easily spotted Finn and went to stand by him.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, for once everyone was being quiet and there was a strange feeling in the air, a feeling that something was about to happen.

“An army messenger arrived with a message for the Captain not that long ago, then left to deliver the message to the Capital as well.” They looked over to see that Ben and Ackbar were in deep discussion over the contents of a note they were passing between them.

Rey worried her bottom lip hoping that Ackbar was willing to give Ben one last chance to prove himself as a commander.

“What about you?” Finn’s question almost made her jump. When all she gave him was a blank look, he clarified. “What happened? Your cheeks are bright red.”

“Oh,” Rey went to cover her cheeks with her hands. She hadn’t realised she had been blushing so hard. “Nothing happened,” she said but at the same time she thought, it almost did and I wanted it to.

Before Finn could question her further, Ben moved out in front of the gathered crowd and stood on top of a box to make sure that everyone could see him.

“Gentlemen.” Everyone fell silent as their Captain began to speak. “We have received orders from the General. We are to meet up with the main army in the mountains near Hosnian Prime.” An excited murmur passed through the crowd. “Go get some rest, we leave at dawn.”

A few men cheered as they were dismissed and they made their way to their tents to get a few hours sleep before they had to pack up and leave.

“Come on Rey.” Finn said gently pulling on her sleeve, but Rey was looking at Ben where he was still stood watching everyone else leave. “No Rey not again, just come to bed.”

“Just let me go ask one thing and then I’ll go.” Finn frowned at her. “I promise. You can even stay here and watch.”

Finn sighed and let her go.

Rey cautiously approached Ben so that no one else, apart from Finn, would notice. He had put on a mask, strong and emotionless, to signify that he was the Captain in that moment.

“See, I told you Ackbar would give you another chance,” she couldn’t help but give him a small smile in the hope of breaking through the mask and reminding him of their earlier connection.

Ben turned with a cold look on his face, but she knew it wasn’t specifically aimed at her.

“Things are bad enough out there that he had to.” Rey’s face fell and she could feel her chest tighten. This had brought her back to reality, the reality that they were at war.

“Get some rest Ray.” he added in a kinder tone, before going back to his own tent.


	21. Chapter 20

They set off at dawn the next day as promised after getting up extra early to pack away their tents and change into their armour.

Rey had been allowed to keep wearing her father’s armour because it was in good condition but the slight variation to the standard issue New Republic armour made her stand out from the others.

As much equipment as possible was packed into two wagons that would be accompanying them; spare weapons, canons, extra water and rations, but the rest of it they had to carry themselves. Their packs were so heavy and on top of their armour they were glad that they had all of their training otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to cope.

The only horses at the company’s disposal were the two work horses pulling the wagons, Ackbar’s chestnut horse Raddus, and Captain Solo’s sleek black stallion Silencer. Silencer had grown bored in the weeks since the main army left, therefore was extremely bad tempered as he had nothing to do. He would snap and kick at anyone who tried to get near him, the only one who could was Ben. Rey had seen them together as she peeked her head out of her tent in the early morning gloom. It was lovely to see them together so calm and peaceful, Rey couldn’t help but feel privileged that she had seen this side of both of them.

Because of the lack of horse the rest of them were on foot. The march was arduous, Ben set a swift pace and to their credit they did keep up. During their rest breaks he went around to every man and made sure that they had enough food and water and were in good spirits. Rey looked on proudly as she saw him make conversion with some of the men. He had come a long way. She understood why he had to stay aloof but sharing a connection with them really helped morale.

After three days of marching the ground started to get sleeper and it started to snow signifying they were in the mountains. Their continual movement kept them warm during the day, but at night they had to huddle together under blankets. Rey stayed as close to Finn as possible. She didn’t want to cuddle up to anyone else, well maybe one other person but that wasn’t going to happen.

A couple of nights later when they weren’t too far from their destination Rey found herself around the fire with Finn, Joph, Snap and Poe. They had just finished their dinner, some of them were on first guard duty that night so the others needed to go to bed so they could relieve them later, but no one could really be bothered to move.

“Anyone got any stories to share?” Poe asked with a sigh, he was bored of the silence.

“When I was a kid, I found this stray cat in an alleyway,” said Snap. “Feisty little thing. It was pretty much skin and bones. Took me ages to earn its trust and for it to let me look after it, but once I did, it would follow me everywhere, even taught it a few tricks.”

“Did it have a name?” asked Rey. She found the idea the very large Snap taking care of a tiny cat really endearing.

“I called it Bones.” Snap smiled as he remembered. “Anyway one day the local gang came over looking for trouble and before any of us could do anything, Bones had jumped up and started attacking them.” They started laughing at that.

“They were gone in a couple of minutes and once they were Bones just sat there and looked up at me, so pleased with himself.” Snap’s smile slowly dropped. “I miss that cat. I miss my mama. I miss my wife.”

“Your married?” exclaimed Finn. That was news to them.

“Yeah, for a couple of years now. Her name’s Kera. She’s the reason I’m now, you know, to protect her.”

“I’ve got a girl back home as well.” piped up Joph. “She’s called Greer and she’s smart and funny and beautiful, but she’s sick. She said that we could get married when the war was done, but I don’t know if either of us will be around for that to happen.”

Joph curled up under his blanket, hugging his knees. Poor Joph.

“Finn’s got a girl he likes back home as well,” Rey said hoping to break the mood that had descended over them. Finn tried to protest but the others insisted.

“Well. Her name is Rose. She works in her family’s tea shop back in Jakku. She’s small and sweet and,” Finn paused. “And I’ve never actually spoken to her. I’m not a big deal back home. I’m just hoping that when I get home that I stand a chance.”

“You’re a sorry lot aren’t you,” said Poe, probably not meaning to sound mean.

“Fine, tell us about your girl then.” snapped Joph.

“Where to start? There’s Jessika and Tallie and Kaydel and …” Poe continued to list off names and the others started jeering him, calling him out. “What can I say, there’s a lot of Poe to go around.”

He laughed as they pelted him with little twigs and pebbles, but Rey had stopped listening. Her attention had been drawn across the camp to where Ben was pacing back and forth. She could tell he was anxious about seeing his father again. She wanted to go over and talk to him, but they had been keeping their distance while they were in the march, sharing nothing but stolen glances and secret smiles.

Half the time she couldn’t help but stare at him. After seeing him shirtless for weeks, Rey knew exactly how big he was, but somehow, Ben looked even bigger in his black armour and red cape flowing from his broad shoulders. She definitely understood why ladies loved a man in armour now.

“Then there’s Ray,” Poe said rather sympathetically. That got her attention and snapped her head back round.

“What?”

“Don’t think we don’t know what you’re hiding.” said Snap softly. Rey and Finn sent panicked looks at each other. They knew she was a girl! How could they have found out? She had been so careful.

“It’s OK.” Joph said seeing their panicked looks. “We understand. Well sort of.” he added with a shrug.

“Yeah, you like what you like and you can’t help that.” said Poe. “And I can understand the appeal but he can be very scary.”

“Wait, what are you guys on about?” Rey was visibly confused as to where this had gone.

“Your little crush on the Captain,” replied Snap quietly.

“Oh,” was all Rey could say as she felt her face turn bright red.

“I told you you were being obvious,” Finn mumbled and Rey nearly pushed him off his seat.

“We just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

"Why...why would I get hurt?"

"Well, someone in his position could take advantage of someone like you."

"You don't know that." 

"No we don't, but Ray, his mother has probably got some rich girl all lined up for him back home."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's Skywalker's heir. Why wouldn't they?"

Rey had forgotten about the family relations of the people who ruled the New Republic, but now she thought about it she remembered that the General had married the Princess at the end of the rebellion and had a son, Ben.

"Just be careful Ray."

Rey didn't know how to feel. Happy that she was still undiscovered. Angry, but sad at the same time, that they were telling her how to feel about Ben. And a little bit guilty for making them make assumptions about them.

Before Rey could say anything, their Captain came over to check on them, probably to find out why they either weren't in their tents or on guard duty. Not wanting to meet anyone's gaze, Rey hurriedly got up, awkwardly said goodnight, ran and dived into her tent to get away from them all.


	22. Chapter 21

The camp had been quiet all night. Those on guard duty hadn’t seen or heard anything alarming so everyone was well rested.

Ben stepped out of his tent fully dressed into the frigid pre-dawn air. A fire was already going to cook their breakfast before they packed up and moved out again. The promise of food was slowly making everyone leave their tents as well as drawing in those who had been on guard duty.

He spotted Ray making his way to get food. They hadn’t spoken in days. It was for the best, but he missed their conversations and Ray’s company, he always got validation from it. Ben had got better at communicating with his men because of Ray, but he had been left confused the night before when Ray had run off as he approached, and the others wouldn’t meet his gaze; and now he was feeling a bit self-conscientious.

But he had to forget about that now. Today was make or break and it could get dangerous. He needed to keep a clear head so that he, and his men would be able to prove themselves.

As they were beginning to pack up, a shout came from the outskirts that someone was approaching. Ben barely had time to shout the order to get into defensive positions, when a riderless horse broke through into the camp. The horse was clearly in distress, with wild eyes and crashing around the camp making people jump out of the way, but it wasn’t a threat, so Ben gave the order to stand down and for someone to catch the horse and calm it down.

It was then that he felt his heart sink into his stomach as he recognised the horse and the colours it was wearing. Its shaggy white coat with patches of grey, its mane and tail free of their braids and falling into its eyes.

Ben was frozen to the spot but willed himself to move as Ray had managed to bring the horse to a standstill and was gently whispering and stroking to calm it down. He had to see if his suspicion was true although he hoped it was not.

Approaching slowly, as to not spook the horse further, he ran his hand gently down the horse’s neck until he reached the saddle and what he was looking for.

Ben unhooked the pair of golden dice from the saddle, there was no doubt that this was his father’s horse, Millennium.

He felt the metaphorical wave crash down on him and everything went cold. He staggered a bit and grabbed onto the nearest thing, which just so happend to be Ray, to stop himself collapsing to the ground. This couldn’t be happening, he thought to himself. No Millennium just escaped. Yes, the horse had a mind of its own and would wonder off on its own all the time.

Not really trusting his legs but knowing that he had to know the truth, Ben reluctantly let go of Ray, barely registering the way his softly said his name. He also blanked Ackbar’s attempts to stop him as he made his way out of the camp in the direction of Hosnian Prime. Everyone else just let him pass, they were all drawing their own conclusions and coming to terms with them.

If Ben was thinking clearly, he knew that it was stupid to go charging off into an unknown situation alone and without a plan, but he was too busy trying to stop his brain jumping to the worst possible conclusion to come up with a plan.

But his brain was right. As stumbled over a rise, he was greeted by the burnt remains of the village of Hosnian Prime. The place was silent apart from the crackle of the dying fires and the groaning of the blackened wooden beams that would have once been part of a house or a shop or a school, ready to collapse under its own weight.

Ben looked around in despair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. His father was meant to stop this. Where was he? Where was the army?

Slowly, he became aware of another sound, of footsteps in the snow. Ben’s sudden panic that he was about to be ambushed quickly dissipated as he realised that the rest of his troops had followed him and taking in the shocking sight for themselves.

“Captain,” someone called him from the edge of a small cliff in the valley near the village. From the look on their face and the faces of others who had also gathered there, he could guess at what they saw and tried to prepare himself for the worst.

The brutality of the scene before him was slightly concealed beneath a fresh layer of snow. The bodies lay their frozen in time. Ben couldn’t make anyone out, but his father was down there somewhere. The men he had trained with were down there and by all rights, Ben should have been down there as well. It appeared that Millennium was the only survivor.

Ben felt like breaking down, but he couldn’t. The time to grieve for his father would come, but for now he needed to stay strong and lead his men. They were the only hope for the New Republic now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this so far.  
> Just to let you know I have something super special coming out on Saturday so keep your eyes out for that if you're interested.


	23. Chapter 22

Rey wanted to get closer, to see for herself the sight that had struck fear and terror into her follow soldiers. But Millennium wouldn’t get any closer and she didn’t want to leave her in case she bolted again.

Finn had seen and had described it to her. She knew he was probably sanitising it for her, but it still made her stomach turn. All that life and potential gone. And so too was the leader of the army and Ben’s father.

He had his back to her so she couldn’t see his face but she had gotten pretty good at reading his body language and could see his emotions play out in the movement of his shoulders and the clenching of his fists. She wanted nothing more than to go up to him and offer some kind of comfort, but she couldn’t, not here. It would have to wait.

It was very apparent that there were no survivors to the attack on the main army or the village of Hosnian Prime and that had deeply affected the moral of the handful of troops left. They were cold and they were scared. All hope looked lost. Rey hoped that Ben would step up and be the leader they needed him to be, the leader that the New Republic needed.

As if reading her thoughts, Ben drew himself to his full height and turned away from the devastation, his mask firmly in place, emotions buried deep down. They would have to be explored later but right now there were more important things to worry about.

He moved into the cleaning between the cliff and the village and everyone instinctively gathered around him. Rey stated where she was. It was easier so the Millennium stayed calm.

“The First Order is moving quickly. We need to make it to the capital before they do. Move out.” Ben mounted Silencer and the rest of the men fell in behind him as they started their march through the mountain pass towards the capital. Rey took up the rear, gently coaxing Millennium along.

They travelled in silence as no one really knew what to say and it also concealed their position a bit. The rest of the men were keeping a good pace, but Rey was falling further and further behind because of the newly acquired horse. Finn, Poe, Joph and Snap were torn between staying back with her and catching up with the main group.

“Maybe it would be quicker if you just rode it,” suggested Joph.

“I couldn’t do that. She's not my horse.” Rey said. It was a valid suggestion, but she was reluctant to admit to them that she didn’t really know how to.

“But, you know, she doesn’t have an owner anymore.” whispered Snap as he glanced around, hoping not to be overheard by their captain even though they were quite far away.

“I’ll do it,” Poe said in his usual over confident manner. “I am the best rider in my village.” Rey shrugged. It was worth a shot. Millennium was less jumpy now, she just wouldn’t move. Maybe it would be better if someone was riding her.

But no sooner had Rey handed Poe the reins did Millennium start to kick off again, she reared up and started kicking at Poe, whinnying and biting at him and making a lot of noise until he backed off.

Knowing that the noise would attract all sorts of attention, Rey grabbed hold of the reigns again, and she pretty much calmed down again. Strange, thought Rey.

“What’s going on here?” Rey turned to see that Ben had ridden back when he heard Millennium. She looked around to see if the others had an answer because she didn’t, but Ben continued. "You need to keep up. In the mountains we’re prone to ambush, we need…”

He let out a surprised grunt as an arrow hit him in the shoulder and knocked him clean off his horse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I've nearly caught up with myself on already written chapters but I'm going to try my best to keep up with my release schedule.  
> In the meantime why not check out my other stories?


	24. Chapter 23

The force of the blow surprised Ben, he had never actually been shot before. Luckily his armour had stopped the arrow before it did any damage.

Sprawled out in the snow, he took a moment to get his bearings before pulling out the arrow. The fletchings were black and red, the colours of the First Order. Then he noticed another one land next to him, then another.

“Get out of range,” he shouted as he scrambled to his feet and for his horse. They were being fired down on from higher up in the mountains.

Rey watched in horror as Ben had been shot off his horse, then flooded with relief as he appeared to be unhurt, and then back to terror as she noticed more arrows raining down on them.

Ben had given them the order to move, but Millennium was really beginning to panic again, and it was taking all her strength to hold her in place.

“Rey come on, leave the horse. It’s a liability anyway.” Finn said. The others had gone, following their orders, but Finn had stayed behind with her.

Rey shook her head, frustrated tears in her eyes. She hated the idea of anyone being left behind, and she wasn’t going to be the one doing the abandoning even if it was just a horse.

“Please Millie. I know you’re scared, but you have to move, we have to move.” she whispered to the horse, but she seemed unmoved. “Please, do it for Han. Help his son complete this mission.”

That seemed to do it. Millennium stilled and looked at Rey with steady eyes, as if telling her to get on and ride her.

“OK then,” Rey muttered to herself as she quickly worked out how she was supposed to get on Millennium’s back.

“What are you doing? You don’t know how to ride.” Finn said as he watched her cautiously balance herself.

“Right now it doesn’t matter too much. We just have to keep from falling off.” Rey said as she reached down to help him up as well.

Millennium seemed to be waiting for Finn to climb aboard, as no sooner had he got on did she start to run away from the still falling arrows towards where their group was taking shelter and preparing to return fire.

Rey tightly gripped the reins and saddle while Finn had wrapped himself around her waist. It was a rather bumpy ride and a bit uncomfortable, but she could see how horse riding could be a rather pleasant activity if they were in a different situation.

As they approached the rocky outcrop, Millennium reared up, spooked by the sound of the cannons the others were setting off. If was all they could do to stay mounted, but as soon as all four hooves were back on the ground, they thought it was best if they just got off.

After securing Millennium safely with the other horse, Rey went to join the others.

They continued to fire cannons up into the mountains. From that distance they could see little figures scatter like ants as the cannons exploded on the rock face.

As they got down to their last cannon, the arrows had stopped falling and the valley had become eerily quiet.

“Hold the last cannon,” Ben ordered Poe as he was about to light it.

As the smoke began to settle, a sense of unease spread across the group for there stood at the far end of the valley was a tall thin figure sat atop a horse with the First Order flag flying proudly behind him.


	25. Chapter 24

The smoke cleared further to reveal that Snoke was flanked by eight men dressed in head to toe in red, and behind them spreading right across the valley was the main body of the First Order dressed in white and black.

Rey saw Ben swallow, eyes wide, before he addressed them. “Prepare to fight. If we die we die with honour.” She could detect the fear in his voice, she too was frightened, the situation seemed hopeless, but as she drew her sword, she promised that she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Snoke and the men in red thrashed their horses and began to charge down the mountain, the wave of soldiers in white following behind them like an avalanche, swords raised above their heads. 

“Try to aim the rocket directly at Snoke” Ben instructed Poe, who was crouched down in the snow, flint and steel at the ready, waiting for the word from his captain. He carefully adjusted his rocket taking direct aim at Snoke.

Rey glanced around, an idea was forming in her head but she had to act fast. She sprang into action and charged towards Poe, she grabbed the last rocket out of Poe’s hands and charged forward towards the oncoming First Order forces.

“Ray! What are you doing?!” Ben shouted after her, starting to give chase.

Rey ignored him, she charged forwards for another 100 meters and placed the rocket in the snow taking aim at a mountain shelf.

She retrieved the flint and steel from her pocket and attempted to create a spark that would ignite the rocket. However the snow had caused her trousers and everything in her pockets to become soaked and she was struggling to create a spark.

She could see in her peripheral vision Snoke charging towards her, the afternoon sun reflecting off the jagged sword raised high above his head. She could hear the cries of her captain from behind her. But Rey was working on instinct and she continued to attempt to light the rocket

Snoke was now within 10 feet of her, his sword ready to swipe at her. Finally Rey managed to strike a spark that took hold, Rey covered her face with her arm as the rocket took off from in front of her causing Snoke’s horse to rear up.

***  
The rest of the group had stayed behind not sure why Ray had taken the last cannon and was making a solo charge or why their captain was chasing after her. But Finn knew Rey. She had a plan even though it would take the rest of them a while to catch on. They were sure that Ray was just after a closer target. So when the rocket went streaking past the leader of the First Order, Poe couldn’t help but exclaim:

“How could he miss? He was three feet in front of him!”

***  
Snoke turned his head to trace the flight of the rocket, Rey also watching from down in the snow. The rocket sailed through the air and struck the mountain. The sound of the explosion rang throughout but as the echo from the rocket faded, it was replaced with a new sound.

A deep rumbling noise started to reverberate throughout the battlefield as enormous quantities of snow began to fall from the mountainside.

Rey smirked as Snoke turned back to face her, struggling to keep his horse under control. It was one thing to take on an army, it was another thing entirely to take on nature.

Realising that there was no way to avoid a devastating defeat, Snoke yelled in anger and swung for Rey with his jagged blade.


	26. Chapter 25

The snow was thundering down the valley swallowing those unfortunate souls at the rear of Snoke’s army. Rey could feel the ground shaking. She had to keep running even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun the avalanche or Snoke on his horse but she had to keep going even though her stomach was hurting where he had swung at her with his sword.

As she was running she noticed that Ben had started to chase after her. She couldn’t work out if that was the most wonderful thing anyone had ever done for her or the stupidest. But as he was staring in awe at the avalanche as it continued on its destructive path, it was leaning towards the stupid side.

“Come on,” she had to shout to be heard over all of the noise behind them, as she grabbed his hand. Ben offered no resistance and they ran together hand in hand.

Rey dared not to look behind her. Instead she listened to the cries and shouts of the men and horses of Snoke’s army as they went under the snow, all the while focusing on their destination; the rocky outcrop where the others were taking shelter as best they could.

Finn knew he should be hunkering down to avoid getting swept up in the avalanche but that was hard to do when he was so worried about Rey still being out there. He watched as she and Captain Solo ran towards them at full pelt. Now was not the time to worry about the implications of them holding hands. He needed to find a way to get to safety before they were overtaken by the angry wave of snow that was rapidly gaining on them.

“Quick. Someone pass me that rope,” he said to no one in particular. He started unravelling it as soon as it was thrust into his hands and throw one end back to those around him. “Tie that to something.”

Poking his head back out, he could see just how close the avalanche was. They would have to work fast and hope that everything would work out.

“Rey!” Finn shouted as throw the other end of the rope as far and as accurately as he could towards Rey. She grabbed hold of the end just as her feet were swept out from underneath her and Finn lost sight of her as he was pulled up close to the rock as the avalanche finally reached them.

They all held their breath as the avalanche flowed over the top of them causing a temporary blackout. Finn tried not to think about what was being carried along with the snow that was travelling above their heads. He just prayed that Rey had managed to hold on. He took the fact that the rope had quickly unravelled itself and become tort against whatever it was tied to as a good sign.

Rey’s arms, shoulders and across her back were screaming in pain, but she had to keep hold of the rope and Ben. The sheer force of the snow was threatening to pull them both down, she kept had eyes firmly shut and it was difficult to breath.

But just as she beginning to think that they would be stuck in the snow forever, the last of the avalanche fell passed them, leaving them hanging over the side of a cliff.

“Ray,” Ben said almost too quietly for her to hear. She looked down at him. His head was wild and eyes were big and frightened.

“It’s OK Ben. We’re going to be OK. Just hold on.” That was as much for herself as it was for him.

“Rey!” She looked up to see Finn leaning out over the cliff. They were both so relieved to see each other.

“Finn!” She couldn’t help the tears that were forming in her eyes. Were they of pain or relief? She didn’t know at this point.

“Hold on. We’ll get you back up here in no time,”

“Stand back guys, get them some air,” said Poe once they had been hauled up the cliff. They sat in the snow panting, getting their breath back.

“Ray. You are the craziest man I’ve ever met,” Rey tried not to let her disappointment show, Ben sounded so stern. “And for that I owe you my life. From now on you have my trust.” He smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s hear it for Ray the bravest of us all,” cried out Joph. Rey smiled as the man around her started to cheer and she felt herself getting emotional. She felt more accepted than she had done in her entire life.

Snap was a big guy prone to getting over excited. As he was cheering Ray, he flung his arm back catching Finn’s chin and knocking him off balance. It wouldn’t be so bad if he hadn’t fallen backwards and hit his head on a rock outcrop and knocking himself out cold.

“Oops,” muttered Snap as he bent down to see if Finn was alright, wondering how much trouble he would be in.

Rey didn’t notice Finn as she was excited by the fact that Ben was now able to acknowledge their friendship in the open now. It probably wouldn’t go the way she wanted, but it was a start and she would take it.

Ben was smiling as he offered her his hand to help her up. She felt dizzy as she got to her feet, but she was the happiest she had been in a long time and she was coming down from a big adrenaline rush so she thought nothing of it. But as she finally stood up, all good feelings went away as she doubled over in pain, both hand clutching her stomach.

“Ray, what’s wrong?” Ben asked gently with genuine concern.

She brought her hands away from her stomach and they both gasped when they saw that they were covered in blood that was seeping through her armour.

“Ray’s wounded. Get help.” Ben shouted his command.

Rey felt the world begin to spin. She felt light headed and her legs give out under her, but Ben caught her and gently lowered her to the ground. Ordinarily Rey would have loved to have felt his big strong arms around her, but everything was starting to go cold.

“Ray, hold on.” She focused on his soft plush lips as her world faded to black. “Hold on.”


	27. Chapter 26

“Hey look, he’s awake.” Finn heard someone say as he slowly came round. He blinked himself awake and saw that Poe, Snap and Joph were standing over him looking relieved.

“Hey buddy,” Poe said gently as he helped Finn get into a sitting position. He winced as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, that he couldn’t remember how it came to be.

“Sorry about that,” Snap said sheepishly as he compacted some snow together to hold against his head. His memory was still a bit foggy but at least the others had survived the avalanche. So had Rey but he couldn’t see her.

“Where’s Rey?” he asked. Usually she was the first one by his side every time he fell over when they were younger.

“He’s with the doctor now,” Joph said sadly as he nodded over to one of the tents that had been erected. “Looks like he got cut up pretty badly.”

No no no no no! Finn thought to himself as he began to panic. After everything they had been through this was how she was going to be found out.

Finn tried to get to his feet. There was no logic or plan behind it, but he needed to get to Rey.

“Hey, it’s OK. We know your worried, we are too, but there’s nothing you can do. We just have to wait.” Poe said with a hand on his shoulder.

All Finn could do was stare at the tent where Rey was being treated. Everyone else sat around looking equally as worried. They owed Rey a lot, she had destroyed an army and essentially won this war all by herself, what would they think when they inevitably found out the truth.

The only one who was letting their restlessness show was Ben, who was pacing up and down outside the tent like a caged animal. His hands were clenched at his side and he was staring intently at the floor. Everyone knew that it would be a mistake to approach him in this state so they just let him be.

“Do you think the Captain likes Ray back?” asked Joph quietly. “I mean, did you see the way he carried Ray into the tent and then the doctor banished him from the tent and now look at him.”

“I think…” but before Poe could finish what he was going to say, the doctor stepped out of the tent.

Finn held his breath as he watched Ben lean down to hear what the doctor was telling him, then abruptly stand up and enter the tent. Finn put his head in his hands, this was not going to end well.

No, Ben thought. What the doctor just told him couldn’t be true, could it? If Ray was actually a woman, someone would have noticed, wouldn’t they?

Upon entering the tent, he saw Ray lying on a makeshift bed, sleeping off their surgery, which had been a success but he too shocked by the doctor’s revelation to feel relieved about that. A blanket pulled right up to their shoulders.

Ray, or whoever they really were, looked peaceful and calm as they slept, but Ben just looked at them with hurt and confusion, questioning his thoughts and feelings over the last couple of months.

As if sensing that he was standing there, Ray began to stir. Slowly they opened their eyes and as their eyes focused on him, they smiled gently, probably not registering his own expression.

The surgery had been a success, the doctor had told him that much, and Ray would make a full recovery, but what would that matter when he knew the law and what punishment Ray would receive.

Ray slowly began to sit up. The blanket that was covering them slipped away from their shoulders. The doctor had been decent enough to wrapped bandages all around her torso but there was no denying the gently curve of her breasts underneath.

Rey felt the cold mountain air on her chest and shivered. She was still very groggy, but looking away from Ben and down at her chest, she was hit by the sudden realisation, she was exposed.

“I can explain,” she said hurriedly as grabbed the blanket to cover herself, but she didn’t know whether she actually could. Ben looked hurt and confused, but she would have a better chance of explaining if she had him alone.

All chances of that were gone when Ackbar burst into the tent. “So it’s true.”

“Ben,” she called after him but he was already on his way out of the tent. Then Ackbar grabbed hold of her and dragged her outside. It was all she could do to keep hold of the blanket.

“I know there was something strange about you,” Ackbar sneered as he pushed her down into the snow. Rey tried not to cry out in pain, from the cold or her wound. “She’s a woman.”

Rey looked around at the men she had been living with for the last couple of months. They all looked shocked and were looking and whispering to each other in confusion. She didn’t really care what they thought of her. There was only one man’s opinion that mattered and he stood with his back to her, fist clenched tightly.

“Rey!” Finn called out and raced towards her, though she wished he hadn’t. He needn't drag himself into her mess, but suspicion would fall on him sooner or later.

“You knew?” Ben said quietly barely containing his anger. Rey could see his breath coming out in small angry puffs in the cold air.

Finn nodded, but before he could say anything, Ben knocked him to the ground with a vicious backhand across the face, splitting his lip.

“Finn!” Rey cried as she crawled over to him. She hated to see her best friend in pain.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” Ben shouted at her. “What you’re making me do? You made me feel…” He stopped himself before he revealed anything to the assembled crowd. “I should execute you both.”

A shocked gasp went through the group, even though they must have known what would happen. There was a sick, satisfied smirk on Ackbar’s face.

A tear rolled down Rey’s check. She was resigned to her fate, she couldn’t explain herself. No one would understand, no one would listen. So she just held Finn’s hand and waited.

As much as Ben itched to get his hands on a blade, the more he thought about it, the more his realised he couldn’t go through with it. Rey had single handedly won this war and Finn’s quick thinking had stopped them from tumbling off the side of a mountain. But they had lied and broken the law, and his trust, and quite possibly his heart; they couldn’t go unpunished.

“But you saved me, so I’m saving you,” Ben said sternly and turned away from them. “Get ready to move out.”

“But the law!” cried Ackbar.

“They are staying here. They are no longer my concern.” Ben replied coldly, and went over to secure Millennium, who was beginning to get restless again. He would bring the horse home so that his mother had something of his father’s.

But Millennium was having none of it. She didn’t want to go with Ben, so she kicked at him like she did with Poe and trotted over to where Rey and Finn were still sat in the snow.

“Fine, stay here you stupid horse.” said as he angrily stamped down on the snow, then went over and to Silencer who was much more well behaved.

He mounted and as he turned to leave, gave Rey one last look. Deep down he knew he didn’t want to leave her there, but he change or break the law any further.


	28. Chapter 27

Rey and Finn huddled together under Millennium’s horse blanket for warmth. They had made a very small fire, but that would be going out soon as everything was so cold and damp.

Snap had surreptitiously left behind a small bag of supplies for them. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had been through a lot since then, but neither of them felt up to eating.

“I’m sorry I got you in this mess Finn,” Rey said quietly as she leaned her head on his shoulder. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be toasting the New Republic's victory in the Capital City.”

“Rey, if it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead. We all would. No one else had the bright idea to start an avalanche. I’d have been cut to pieces and the First Order would now be marching into the capital.” Finn hugged her to emphasise that he owned her everything and that she shouldn’t wallow in her self loathing.

“But no one will know,” she had a feeling that at the very least Ackbar would make sure her contribution was never mentioned, Ben looked like he didn’t want anymore to do with her, and who would listen to the other lowly conscripted soldiers?

“I followed you out here to prove that I was something more than a dirty scavenger, but the whole experience has just re-enforced the fact that I am nothing and no one.” Rey pulled the blanket more round her pulling it off Finn slightly. Her let her have it.

“No Rey you’re not and you never were,” Finn said softly.

“But Ben,”

“Forget that guy. If he can’t see passed the fact that you are a girl, even though you have saved the whole New Republic, then he’s not worth your time.” Rey smiled sadly. He was right but she had always heard that your first heartbreak was the worst.

“I guess we have nowhere else to go but back to Jakku,”

“Yeah, at least we can sleep safe in the knowledge that we have protected the ones we loved.”

“What are you going to do about Rose?” Rey asked.

“I don’t know. I may finally have the courage to speak to her. I mean what’s the worst that could happen? Paige beats me with a stick.” They smiled despite themselves.

“And I mean we’ve got war stories now. We could sit and entertain the children like my father used to do.”

“That sounds nice. And at least we have some transport to help get us home.” Finn nodded over to where Millennium was standing. She was remarkable calm now that they were alone, and she could have a nice life in Jakku, once they worked out the logistics of keeping a horse.

Suddenly Millennium started to become very agitated, which was concerning she was quite near the edge of a cliff. The cliff overlooked the valley where the avalanche had occurred. They had moved because the ground was more stable up there.

Rey did her best to get up and over to the horse as quickly as possible, but her wound was still troubling her.

“It’s OK girl. We’ll leave soon and then you’ll never…” Rey stopped in her tracks as she looked over the edge of the cliff and saw what had disturbed Millennium so much. Snoke and six of his men dressed in red had managed to crawl out from below the suffocating snow.

Rey and Finn both gasped and stared on in horror as Snoke looked around at his utter and undeniable defeat. He raised his sword above his head and let out a yell of anguish that also served as a battle cry to rally those around him.

Rey and Finn pulled Millennium back from the edge, hoping that the newly resurfaced members of the First Order wouldn’t hear her cries of protest.

“We have to go to the Capital City. We have to warn everyone.” Rey said urgently.

“What? No there’s like seven of them. They others will easily stop them.”

“But they’ll be more dangerous now. They have nothing to lose. This is purely about revenge.” Rey looked at Finn he didn’t seem convinced at all. She could see where he was coming from but from her point of view, they still had a duty to fight for the New Republic.

“Well I’m going and I’m taking Millennium, don’t make me leave you on this mountain.” she said as she clambered onto Millennium’s back, the horse bending down slightly to make it easier.

“Oh alright. Let’s go save the New Republic properly this time.”

Rey pulled Finn up onto Millennium’s back and they set off towards the capital.


	29. Chapter 28

Ben stood in the corner of the great Hall alone. They had been welcomed into the capital and into the palace as returning heroes, new travelled fast. It was meant to be a joyous occasion but to Ben and many others it just felt hollow. Not only was Ackbar telling an exaggerated account of what had happened that failed to mention Ray, or whatever her real name was, but his father was meant to be there to celebrate as well.

His mother was halfheartedly listening to what was being said dressed in her mourning gown.

He had been rather despondent on their journey back, a lot of people had. He was alone with his thoughts of Ray, trying to make sense of his feelings, and he was still no closer to figuring them out.

Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall burst open and a lone guard scurried in.

“What is it?” asked Luke grateful for a distraction.

“There’s a man and a woman demanding to speak with you.” the guard said quickly.

“They’ll have to wait and go through the regular channels,”

“She has Millennium sir.” the guard said. Ben perked up at this and so did his mother. A quiet murmur went through the men who had been threatened into staying quiet.

Just then Ray and Finn strode into the room, obviously tired of waiting for the guard to come and get them. They started out all confident, but Ben could see from their expressions that they were regretting their approach.

“Who are you?” his uncle asked them.

“My name is Rey Kenobi. Please Your Majesty..”

“Kenobi? As in Obi-Wan Kenobi?” Luke interrupted.

“Yes, he was my father. Your Majesty we’ve just come down from the mountains. Some of the First Order survived and are making their way to the palace.”

“But we were told the army was destroyed by an avalanche. Why should we believe you?”

“I saw them too,” piped in Finn.

“Your Majesty, those two are traitors that should have been executed in the mountains. Just another one of the captain’s failures.” Ackbar spat and it was all Ben could do to kind his composure.

“But one of them is clearly a woman,” said Leia. Looking at Rey now it was hard for Ben to believe that he ever thought she was a man.

“Yes I disguised myself as a man so that I do something with my life, but I’m telling the truth now. Please believe me.”

“I’ll vouch for her,” someone yelled from the back of the room. It was Poe and soon enough everyone else from the unit had stepped forward offering their support. The look on Rey’s face made his heart soar as she saw all the support she had.

It probably made no difference, her support was unanimous apart from Ackbar, but Ben also added his vote of confidence.

“Very well. It seems we have every reason to believe that the reminisce of the First Order is coming here. Captain what do you propose we do?”

Luke turned to Ben but before he could outline any plan, the lights went out. In the pitch dark there were sounds of panic, people swiftly moving around, a struggle and doors slamming shut.

When the lights came back up, all was it was before but Luke and Leia were gone and in their place draped on the ground was the First Order flag.

“Well at least we know you were telling the truth.” mumbled Finn. Rey elbowed him. This was no time for sass.

“What do we do now Captain?”

Ben took a minute to shake away his initial shock.

“What’s the most secure room in the palace?” Rey asked Ben.

“The Throne Room. It was designed to keep people out.” He knew this palace inside and out, its strengths and weaknesses. “What numbers are we looking at?”

“Seven,”

“Seven? We can take them easily,” said Poe in his usual cocky manner.

“Don’t let their small numbers fool you. You still need to have your wits about you.”

They made their way through the palace following Ben’s lead and checking every corridor.

“So you were a girl the whole time?” Poe had slipped in beside her. “Usually ‘little Poe’ is a bit more attune to these things.”

It took her a minute to realise what he was talking about.

“Gross,” Then she remembered that she had seen ‘little Poe’ which made it doubly gross.

“But what we talked about around the fire the other night, that was true?” he said quietly nodding over at Ben. Rey nodded.

“I think he’s many angry because you made him question himself,”

“Can we not discuss this right now.” Rey cut him off. She was still upset that Ben had left her up in the mountains, but he had stood up for her in the Great Hall, so she was softening slightly towards him again.

They halted outside a set of large double doors. There were no guards outside. Rey’s hunch may not have been correct but there was only one way to find out.

“OK man, and Rey,” he awkwardly added in. “We go in swords drawn. I want you to protect each other. May the force be with you.”

But as they charged through the doors to the throne room they stopped and stared in disbelief at the surprising scene in front of them. All seven members of the First Order Rey and Finn had seen crawling out of the snow were lying on the ground, presumably already dead, with Luke and Leia calmly standing there, a bit worn out but completely fine.

“But, but,” Ben stammered. “What happened?”

“Did you really think that we couldn’t defend ourselves?” Luke said smugly as his wiped down his sword.

“But mother, the law how could you not…?”

“Yes the law that I have been fighting against for the past thirty years. But the council is full of backwards thinking man I’ve never been able to get anywhere with it.” She shot a look at her brother that told everyone else in the room that he hadn’t been any help either.

“But I won’t take no for an answer anymore. Rey for your services to the New Republic, your bravery and your forward thinking, I would like to offer you a seat on the Grand Council.”

Rey’s jaw dropped and she heard gasps from the others in the room.

“Your Majesty, this is quite an honour, but I’m just a scavenger from Jakku, I’m not suitable for something like this.”

“Nonsense,” Leia came and placed her hand over Rey’s. “You’re exactly what the council needs, someone who has actually lived in the outside world.”

Rey took a minute to think about it. This was her chance to make something of her life, to help other people, to prove that she was more than anyone had bargained for. It was a big step, but she had to take it if she was ever going to move forward.

“Your Majesty, I accept your offer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all if anyone, is slightly disappointed, I just need this story to end.  
> I had wanted Ben and Rey to have a praetorian guard fight, they I thought 'why not let Luke and Leia do it...off screen.'  
> Anyway last chapter is at least written so there's that. See you thursday


	30. The End

“I’ll visit soon I promise.” Rey said as she hugged Finn goodbye on the palace steps. They had just had a medal presentation and now Finn was going back to Jakku.

“You take care of yourself,” Finn said when he let her go. She stood before him in her new white council robes. He didn’t look to shabby in his new clothes either. He smiled at her but sent a wary look at Ben who was stood further behind her.

“I’ll be fine. Give my love to Maz.” she gave him another quick hug and he left.

She stood there until she couldn’t see him no more. When she turned to leave herself, she found that Ben had quietly crept closer and it startled her slightly to see him stood so close to her.

“So,” he said but he looked unsure as to how to continue. “It’s… The war has finished.”

“Yes,” she said, then remembered that promise they had made, in what seemed such a long time ago, and blushed slightly. “I didn’t know whether you would be interested in me as I am now.” she tried to put it as gently as she could.

“I have been thinking about my feelings for you since I found out and I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter to me what you were wearing, it was you that I felt, feel the attraction for and I apologise for the way I acted, I was angry and confused and,”

Rey cut him off with a small kiss on the cheek. She had heard what she wanted to hear.

“What do we do know?” she asked looking into his brown eyes.

“May I kiss you?” he asked quietly and she smiled bashfully.

***

The first thing Finn noticed when he set foot in Jakku again was that nothing had changed, except perhaps the way people were looking at him. Word had travelled fast about the New Republic’s victory and the medal around his neck signified his part in it. The people around town looked at him with respect, congratulated him and welcomed him home, whereas before he would have totally been ignored. But there was only one person he wanted to see more than anyone else.

He knocked on his grandmother’s door and not two seconds later the old woman opened it.

“Finn!” she cried as she wrapped herself tightly around his middle. “I’ve missed you so.”

“I’ve missed you too Grandma.” he said as he bent down to hug her back.

“Wait, where’s Rey?” Maz asked when she loosen her grip slightly.

“She’s going to start a new life in the capital, but she promises to visit soon,” he said. He was sad to leave his best friend and pseudo-sister behind but it was what she wanted and he wished he all the best.

Just then a very tall and very hairy man emerged from inside Maz’s little house.

“Wait who’s that?” asked Finn

Maz turned and nodded at the man who said something Finn couldn’t understand and left.

“Never mind about that now. Let’s just celebrate the fact that you’re home.” she said as she pulled him tightly against her again, but Finn was too suspicious to relax into this hug.

A small feminine cough behind them broke them apart. Finn turned to see Rose looking up at him shyly, wringing her hands nervously.

“Are you Finn? The Finn?” she asked quietly and Finn felt his heart stop beating and his mind go blank. Rose was talking to him! Actually talking to him!

It took Maz elbowing him to remember that he should reply.

“Yes, yep, yeah. I’m the Finn yes.” the way he said it made Rose giggle and it was the most beautiful sound Finn had ever heard. Maz just shook her head at her love struck grandson.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Maz asked Rose.

“Would you like to stay forever?” Finn said out loud then immediately clamped his hand over his mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that. I mean I did but I didn’t.”

Rose smiled and took pity on him and linked arms with him.

“Dinner would be great.”


End file.
